Do You Have a Book to Promote? Let Damyanti Help

Novels in a Polish bookstore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

         Besides being a terrific A to Z Co-host, Damyanti is a good friend to all of us--especially writers.  She's making an offer you should not refuse!

Marketing:  Someone's Gotta Do It

Whether traditionally published or self-published, writers these days have to do more than writing, and that includes marketing, publicity and what not. Being a writer myself, this thing scares me because I’m terrified of toting my own work.

But I like reading books by my fellow-authors, and would like to push their books as much as possible – it helps them in some small way, and it helps my blog audience discover additions to their reading list. Keeping this in mind, I’ve started a Wednesday book feature on Amlokiblogs.

If you're an author looking to get more publicity for your latest book, or buzz up an old one, send me the following at atozstories at gmail dot com:

1. Title of Book, Genre, Author Name
2. A one to two sentence elevator pitch (Not more than 50 words)
3. Author's fave excerpt from the book (Not more than 250 words)
4. Links from where the books can be purchased.
5. Blogpost-sized Book Cover

I'd like an email expressing your interest first, with a link to the book, before you send out the above.

The elevator pitch and the teaser excerpt need to be well-polished, ready to be showcased. This is for books only-- novels and short story collections. I'd like to feature non-fiction as well, but no poetry or erotica(sounds horrible, grouped like that, I know, but I run fiction-based, PG13 blogs).

I have books going till August, and have slots in September open now. If you need your book featured urgently and I particularly love your book, I might also feature them on Daily (w)rite.

I look forward to reading your excerpts, and if intrigued enough, featuring them and buying your books!

Thank you Lee, for letting me speak about this on your blog--- and for being an awesome blog-friend.

Related articles

• Elevator Pitch... What's Yours?
• Featuring CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh
• #Writers Helping Writers: Get Your #Book Featured
• Announce Your Book

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge-- 2012 Edition

            

       The big Challenge month of April is coming upon us.   We've gotten an early start for this edition as those who have been following the Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog.  Over the past few weeks previous participants and even a few who will be new to the Challenge in 2012 have been giving some of their thoughts about the Challenge.  Today's post is the next big announcement about the A to Z Challenge of 2012.

        When I started the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in 2010 it began with a modest near one hundred participants.  The Challenge took off and generated a good bit of buzz.  Friendships were established and followers increased for those who joined in that first year.  The event was a hit from its humble beginnings.

       Last year I knew the Challenge would be bigger so I enlisted the help of seven other top-notch bloggers.   And did it ever take off!  Reaching nearly 1300 sign-ups--most of whom finished the challenge--the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge had established itself in the blogging community.

        With last year's experience duly noted, we've assembled an amazing cast of bloggers to assist in this year's challenge.  I think we've outdone ourselves this time.   Take a look at the bloggers who are on board to host the 2012 Challenge:

        In addition to me (Arlee Bird), Alex J. Cavanaugh and Stephen Tremp will be returning to act as guides and motivators to encourage participants through the alphabet in April.  

        And there are more!  Damyanti Biswas published an e-book of her A to Z entries last year.  She knows what she's doing in the Challenge and she'll be here to help.

        Tina Downey and Shannon Lawrence started a Post Challenge Challenge last year to encourage others to visit all of the blogs that had been signed up for the A to Z Challenge.  They too know a bit about this blog event business and are great encouragers. 

          D.L.Hammons also knows a thing or two about blogfests, having been involved in several.  An immensely popular blogger, D.L. will be a valuable addition to the team.

           Jeremy Retro-Zombie will be  adding his creative influence and blogging expertise to our 2012 team.  If you haven't seen his blog you ought to check it out--it's pretty cool.

           Matthew MacNish has a special eye for words and has a fun and informative blog; while Elizabeth Mueller displays a flair for visual art in addition to the art of words. 

            Jenny Pearson may have stopped by your blog already--I feel like I've been seeing her comments all over the place.  She writes some very nice stuff.  Check out her link below.

            Konstanz Silverbow is relatively new to me.  I'm anxious to know more about her and I hope you are too.   Her link can be found below.

            But heck, why am I rambling on when you could be checking out these great bloggers yourself.

             Don't forget that the A to Z sign-up list will appear on January 30, 2012.  Keep watch on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog and on all of the blogs of the A to Z Team

             Here's the Team:      

       

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller)

Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Related articles

• The Fantastic A to Z Ride: Observations by Shannon the Warrior Muse (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• A Challenge Report from Jenny Pearson (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• The Fun Factor of the A to Z Challenge (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• What's This A-Z Blogging Challenge I Keep Hearing About? a guest spot from author Elizabeth Mueller (a-to-zchallenge.com)

A Matter of Life and Death: Another A to Z Story

          Today I am honored to have as my guest D. Biswas, who most of you know as Damyanti.  Her blog Daily (w)rite was a popular flash fiction site during the 2011 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  In this post she tells how her challenge entries came to be published in book form.   


Meeting the Challenge


          First of all, let me thank Lee for welcoming me on his blog. I’m here to talk about my experience of the A to Z challenge, which Lee has been organizing for the past two years. If you follow Lee, you already know about the challenge.

         This year, I signed up my blog Daily (w)rite without much of an idea of the challenge’s history, or its potential reach. I was the 15^th participant, and the final count was more than 1200, if I’m not mistaken.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, the A to Z challenge asked its participants to post on 26 days of April on their blogs, except the 4 Sundays.

        Signing up for this was where it all began, because that is where A to Z Stories ofLife and Death, my debut collection of flash fiction, was born.

       Being me, the eternal last minute improviser, I was scrambling for ideas on the morning of April 1^st. I had no clue what to do, but since I’d written small pieces of fiction on Daily (w)rite before, I decided maybe I should give that a shot.

       Writing flash fiction on Daily (w)rite usually involved picking up a random word or picture prompt, setting the kitchen timer to ten minutes, and writing non-stop and without thought till the alarm went Tiing! I polished up whatever emerged and put it up.

        After I similarly posted the first two or three pieces for A to Z, I got positive responses and returning readers…which made me ask my readers for prompts. This gave the readers room for involvement, and challenged me to come up with something completely random.


A Book Is Born

       Near the end of the challenge, I had regular, returning, encouraging visitors—some of whom suggested I compile an e-book.

       I did.

      Which is to say, I kept rejecting and re-writing the original pieces based on feedback by beta-readers till I was moderately pleased with the result (I’m never completely pleased with my work. Le Sigh.) I approached Jake Garn for the cover image and Marcel Heijnen for the cover design. (Both were amazing in their work, and I highly recommend them….Marcel is your man if you need your e-book cover designed.)

       This took me two months, and then in August, with the help of my tech-whiz and immensely supportive husband, I uploaded A to Z stories of Life andDeath. It has got good reviews on Kindle, and is selling a few copies every once in a while. I would love to have more reviews, obviously, and I have a few more stories in the pipeline based on some of the pieces in the collection.

     To give you an idea about the book, here’s the blurb:

Twenty-six A to Z stories, based on the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, question our moral compass: How do you judge a teacher toying with the sexuality of her teenaged student? A boy who decides to murder his mother? What thoughts rage inside a pedophile serial killer before he shoots himself? They challenge the concepts of beauty, truth, and morality, by revealing the face of the other side.
The stories focus on a crucial juncture when a character's life changes, for the better or worse, because of a choice or decision. Some of the characters in the stories confront death, others talk about life with its quirks and whimsies. Each voice, ranging in age from a six-year-old to a centenarian, has its own riveting story to tell. Together, this collection of stories at over 12000 words attempts to prove that when it comes to stories, depth can sometimes replace length and breadth.

   What's Next? 
      
         I’m definitely going to participate in April 2012, and if all goes well, I shall have a second book in the A to Z series. All of this from the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge by the tremendous Arlee Bird.

        Speaking of challenges and blogfests, I’d like to end with an invite to The Rule of Three Blogfest, a month-long shared-world fiction extravaganza in October with some great prizes, and of course, a lot of exposure for your writing.

       This is one Blogfest fiction authors ought not to miss, because it is open to all genres, and provides an excellent showcase for an author's craft. Go ahead and sign up!

      In conclusion, a big hand to Arlee Bird, and to A to Z! Mark your calendars for April 2012, because this challenge is going to get bigger and better!!

-----------------------------------

Writer Bio: D.Biswas lives more in her head than in this world, adores her husband, and loves her pet fish and plants. She is an established writer for magazines and journals. Her short fiction has been published in the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Muse India and in print anthologies by Marshall Cavendish, Monsoon Books, and MPH publications. Her book, A to Z Stories of Life and Death, is available for download at Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.

Twitter: damyantig

Website: http://amloki.com

Blog: http://damyantiwrites.wordpress.com

            I'm thrilled to have featured another success story from the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge and want to thank Damyanti for taking the time to tell her story.   We now welcome your comments and questions.



..

Too Young to Be That Old

          In my previous post, Doris Plaster talked about the 50 word stories that were her submissions to the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  I decided to try my hand at one of these.  My story comes in at 80 words.  Not bad for wordy me--it's not all that easy to do.

Too Young To Be That Old


          When I went to visit my friend Steve, I was greeted by a line of elderly people in wheelchairs watching to see who was getting a visitor.  It was sad to see.  Sadder still was that Steve at only age 57 was confined to a bed, nearly blind, having lost both legs to diabetes.  I didn't recognize him.  He looked as old as the people who had greeted me.   Saddest of all was that the following year Steve was dead.


         On September 12th my special guest will be Damyanti from Daily (w)rite.   Like Doris, Damyanti compiled her A to Z stories into a book which is now available.  Please be sure to check out my guest post on Damyanti's blog.


...